A NSW pork barrelling inquiry is investigating a secretive $177 million bushfire fund. 

The allocation of the fund appears to have been limited to a handful of Coalition figures. 

Media investigations led to the launch of a NSW Upper House inquiry into grants rorting. The probe has been extended in recent days to look at the distribution of a $177 million fund, almost a quarter of which went to Wagga Wagga - a city in the middle of Nationals MP and Deputy PM Michael McCormack’s seat.

The Wagga Wagga electorate also includes part of the Snowy Valleys Shire, which is split between it and the Labor-held federal electorate of Eden-Monaro.

There is no doubt that parts of the Wagga Wagga electorate were decimated by bushfires, but the fund designed to help the region recovery has been described as “hitherto unknown” and having been “rorted by NSW and Coalition governments for political ends”. 

The article that prompted the expansion of the inquiry is accessible here, while further analysis can be found here. The official action was driven almost entirely by revelations from independent news outlet Michael West Media.